Plenty of Fish in the Sea
by Serceraugh
Summary: A year has passed and Jaune and Pyrrha have broken up. Thus Jaune is left once again searching for a date to the dance, not noticing the very obvious advances from his good friend and fellow team leader Ruby Rose.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Productions**

Jaune Arc sat on a bench alone in the courtyard of Beacon Academy. As he watched the other students pass by and thought on his time here and how much more... eventful it had been than expected. I mean _sure_ he had expected to fight grimm, that was the entire point after all! But he didn't expect to be wrapped up in that whole white fang conspiracy last year, nor did he expect to have dated a _gorgeous_ pro-athlete huntress.

Although that last one led to his current problem, he _had _been dating Pyrrha, but now he wasn't. Now this itself was not the problem, it had been a mutual breakup due to lack of shared interests, other than sword combat in which one combatant had been the girl who had won the Mistral Regional tournament four years in a row and the other had been, well... Jaune.

However the reason this breakup had caused problems for Jaune was because once again the dance was coming up, and this time Pyrrha **did** have a date which meant that once again he would have to either embarrass himself in the pursuit of his own date or go alone. The answer was obvious of course, which led to the real reason for his observation of the courtyard, Pyrrha had once said that there were plenty of fish on the sea, so Jaune had decided to go fishing.

He stood up as he saw an attractive brown haired girl walk past and approached her,

"Hey sunshine, how would _you_ feel about going to the dance with _me_, Jaune Arc, defeater of White Fang, Combaterof Criminal Conspiracies _aaaannnd," _he paused for dramatic effect, "natural blonde."

The girl stared at him for a few seconds before bursting into laughter, "**You**, Defeater of the White Fang?" she continued laughing," No thanks, I'll pass," she spoke before turning and walking away.

Jaune groaned, collapsing onto his bench, "It's no use, you can't go fishing if you don't have any bait."

"You're going fishing?" a voice spoke from behind him. Jaune turned to see Ruby Rose, head tilted and looking rather confused.

"No," Jaune replied, "It was a metaphor... thing, I dunno." He sighed

"Oh," Ruby sat down on the bench next to Jaune, "then what _are _you doing?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

Jaune looked out at the courtyard, "Trying to find a date to the dance, forgot that for girls to like you, you have to have something to like."

"What do you mean? You're Jaune Arc, one of the friendliest people at Beacon," Ruby stated, still seemingly confused.

"Exactly! _Friendliest_, as in I can make friends, not... y'know _Boyfriendliest,"_ he stumbled awkwardly over the newly created word.

There was a brief stint of silence where both parties contemplated the statement before Ruby spoke up.

"... you want to make boyfriends?" Ruby asked, wide eyed," N-not that there's anything wrong with that or anything but y'know after Pyyrha I thought you were definitely straight although I suppose you could be Bi, but then aga-"

"No! No, no I'm definitely straight." Jaune breathed in, "I meant that I'm not really boyfriend material, y'know? I mean, I'm not cool like Neptune or all buff like Sun, and my attempts at asking girls out have proven I'm not exactly all that charming. I'm basically just an average guy who's really socially awkward and able to fake confidence."

"Well if that's what you think, why don't you just ask out one of your friends?" Ruby replied, placing a hand on his thigh.

"Huh?" Jaune looked over at her.

Ruby continued, "I mean, you're not nearly as awkward around people you already know, so just ask one of those out, you have plenty of **close **friends who would probably **love **to go out with you," she glanced away after that, fiddling with the ties of her cloak uncomfortably, simultaneously hoping he did and didn't notice the emphasis she put on certain words in that sentence.

Of course being Jaune, subtle hints flew right over him and he continued his moping,

"But I'm just average, average fighter, average looking..." he trailed off.

"No you're not! You're good looking, just because you don't have muscles like Sun and you're not all bendy and acrobatic like Ren and you can't pull off blue hair like Neptune doesn't mean you aren't handsome!" Ruby shouted at him before realising how much attention she was drawing to herself and looking down at her feet. In a quieter voice she continued.

"You have really great hair and your eyes are all sparkly and blue like an ocean full of stars and glitter and stuff, and it's not like you don't have muscles, I mean it's pretty hard to be out of shape when you go to a school like this." Ruby peered up at Jaune through her eyelashes to see how he was reacting to her little impromptu speech.

Jaune's eyes were wide as he looked at Ruby,

"Really?" he asked. His seemingly positive reaction reinvigorated Ruby and urged her to continue.

"Yup! Any girl would be lucky to go out with someone as awesome as you," she paused remembering his other comment, "Besides, there's no way you could be an average fighter, you **have** to be above average to even get into Beacon in the first place."

Jaune laughed awkwardly at that, he still hadn't told anyone other than Pyrrha that he had lied his way into Beacon, maybe one day he would, but for now there were other issues he had to solve, starting right now. He stood up and posed confidently, puffing out his chest before turning around to Ruby.

"You're right! Meet me tomorrow, since it's the weekend we'll have plenty of time and I gotta prepare some stuff for this," Jaune proclaimed.

"Huh? What? We?" Ruby was confused by this sudden statement, Jaune wanted to meet her on a Saturday? Like a date? But he would've asked if it was a date, or would he? She didn't really know anything about how dating worked other than what she had read in some of those books Blake had hidden under her mattress and what Yang had told her from her few previous relationships. But he said meet, like a meeting about what? She was pulled out of her panicked thoughts when Jaune gave an answer.

"Of course 'we', I'm going to need help so I'm assigning you the position of my official Romantic Advisor!" Jaune paused and his confident pose slumped a little as he looked Ruby in the eyes.

"I-I mean, uh, if you don't mind..." He mumbled, not realising Ruby was busy gazing into his eyes until it had been five minutes and she still hadn't replied

"Ruby?" he shook her shoulder and she snapped awake from her trance, she really did like those eyes.

"Uh, oh, sure I'd love to help. Who knows, maybe your future date is closer than you think," she answered, unconsciously moving closer to Jaune.

Jaune's confident pose returned and he hugged the short girl, causing her to enter a brief state of mental freefall.

"Meet me at that coffee place, you know the one near the dust store?" he asked, receiving a nod in reply from the dazed girl.

"Great! Thanks Ruby, I really don't know what I would have done without you." Jaune released Ruby and she recovered, deciding she needed to stop getting distracted she replied.

"You'd probably still be striking out with random girls that walk by," she smiled jokingly.

Jaune rubbed his neck awkwardly, "Heh, yeah probably. But hey I should go prepare that stuff I mentioned, seeya tomorrow yeah?" he said while walking away backwards.

Ruby nodded and Jaune waved his goodbye as he turned and headed toward the dorms. Ruby was going the same way, but she decided to wait on the bench for a while before following in order to process what had just happened.

Yang had told her she should just find Jaune and hint that she would really like to go to the dance with him. With the defeat of the White Fang, everyone had returned to a much more normal state and most people's focus switched back to school and their personal lives, and with all their new free time not spent investigating crime syndicates teams RWBY, JNPR, SSSN and occasionally CFVY spent much more time hanging out with each other.

As tends to happen in friend groups, people began picking favourites and smaller groups and pairs from different teams split off into their own friend groups. Blake and Yang seemed to get on rather well with Fox and Coco and Sun eventually joined in when he finally got together with Blake. Weiss and Neptune spent more time together with Sage and Scarlet showing up from time to time and the strangest of all being Ren and Nora getting along very well with Yatsuhashi and Velvet.

This of course left Ruby and Jaune, and Pyrrha of course but after the breakup she began spending more time with a boy from Atlas leaving only Jaune and Ruby to become closer and closer, eventually leading to Ruby developing a crush on the knight boy.

That was two months ago, and it had only gotten worse, she had thought her speech about how generally awesome she thought he was would get him to finally realise this and hopefully lead to him asking her to the dance. Of course it failed.

"Was I too subtle?" she whispered to herself as she stood up to head back toward the dorms.

Yang was laughing, Ruby had just finished telling her what had happened and Yang had burst into laughter at her expense. Thankfully Blake and Weiss were nowhere to be found so at least she was only a third as embarrassed as she could have been.

"Romantic Advisor? Really? That cannot be true, I refuse to believe that Jaune appointed youas his '_Romantic Advisor'_." Yang began to calm down though the occasional giggle still slipped through.

"I know. Oh Yang I don't know what to do," Ruby pouted, she felt Yang's hand ruffle her hair and looked up to see her sister smiling at her.

"Just do your new job sis," Yang stated causing Ruby to raise her eyebrow, Yang sighed exasperatedly.

"Advise him that you would be his best choice, simple" She rolled her eyes.

"I can't do that!" Ruby lay down on Blake's bed where she and Yang were sat as the door handle turned.

Weiss and Blake walked into the room, halting when they saw the sisters on Blake's bed. Yang looked up from Ruby's pouting face to the pair that had just walked in and asked,

"Where were you two? Actually, doesn't matter, better question, you two have boyfriends right?" She looked back and forth at the girls

"Yes?" Weiss replied, suspicious of the seemingly random question.

"Great! Then you can totally help Ruby right?" Yang asked.

"Sure," Blake replied in her usual monotone, "what with? I'm assuming something dating related since you asked but I didn't know Ruby was dating anyone." She looked up at Ruby who was now sitting up and staring at her sister.

"Yang, no." Ruby commanded, not wanting the other two to know about her crush, or her embarrassing new job title.

"C'mon Rubes, were all friends here. It's not that bad, you should be proud of your new position," Yang replied, barely holding in a snicker.

"Wait," Weiss interjected, "Ruby has a _job_, really?"

Yang snickered again, "Oh yeah," She pushed Ruby back as the younger girl struggled to stop her sister revealing her secrets, "You are looking at 'Ruby Rose, Romantic Advisor'."

"_What?" _the two other girls replied simultaneously.

"For who?" Weiss asked, wondering who would be dense enough to have Ruby give them relationship advice, her mental question was answered seconds later when Yang, still holding off Ruby, gave it.

"Jaune," Yang took a moment to look at their disbelieving faces before continuing, "Apparently our little Ruby went there to try and be his date and left promising to help him find one." Yang finished with a laugh.

"Yaaaaaaaaannng," Ruby whined, "you said you wouldn't tell."

"Look Ruby, they'll totally help you way more than I could, you know I'm not great with all that mushy romance stuff, these two have actual relationships!" Yang exclaimed, trying to make Ruby feel better about having her personal life put on show for her whole team.

"We'll try," Blake said, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder and smiling down at her kindly, "Right Weiss?"

"Of Course! No partner of mine shall go dateless, especially when I can do something about it!" Weiss answered dramatically before peering down at Ruby and smirking, "_Really_ Ruby? _Jaune?"_

The red girl groaned in reply hid her head in a pillow, "Can you just help me?" she spoke into the pillow, muffling her voice. She got laughter in response and the three other members of team RWBY gathered around their leader. Sitting next to her, they began to talk about what Ruby could do to gain the leader of JNPR's attentions.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you for the reviews, they are greatly appreciated!**

Ruby hadn't slept well that night, her mind going over all the ways anything could possibly go wrong. She knew it wasn't a date at least, no one, not even Jaune would think asking a girl to be their 'Romantic Advisor' was even slightly romantic.

She had wondered if maybe it was some sort of euphemism, especially when Yang had asked her what kind of '_advice' _she was going to give while winking suggestively. This of course turned the younger girl into a flustered mess for at least five minutes before she could get rid of the many fantasies brought out from the back her mind at the comment.

Alas, she knew those fantasies would remain just that until she could get Jaune to ask her on a **real** date, the kind with awkward dancing and rose petals and prolonged eye contact followed by extended periods of awkward blushing, she would even provide the rose petals! ...And probably at least half of the awkward...

This was why the red girl was now waiting in the specified coffee shop wearing her usual combat skirt, corset and cape. She had wanted to dress up a bit to catch Jaune's attention, but Weiss had told her that if the blonde boy didn't want her as is then he wasn't worth the effort. Though the heiress **had** helped with hair and makeup early that morning, claiming there was a difference between looking casual and looking like she had just gotten out of bed and refusing to accept the argument that Ruby **had** in fact just gotten out of bed.

So now the scythe wielder waited for the unspecified time when her crush would arrive, having arrived as soon as possible after waking up and setting herself up in the corner booth with her scroll. The three hours she had been there were lost in a blurred vortex of music and cute puppy videos, head shooting up whenever she heard the bell above the door ring or saw a flicker of movement near the entrance.

She was repeating this pattern when her eyes finally found what they had been searching for, a tall scruffy blonde boy entering the shop and scanning the room before meeting her eyes, an event that seemed to last an hour in Ruby's head, and walking over to her corner. It was at this time she noticed what Jaune was carrying with him, a clipboard held firmly under his arm and a pen stuck behind his ear.

"Hey Ruby! Glad you could make it, I honestly didn't think you'd show up," Jaune rubbed his neck nervously, "I mean, I did kinda spring that whole 'Romantic Advisor' thing on you outta nowhere, and it was a little overdramatic, heh." The blonde gave a weak laugh as he sat down at the table opposite the girl who rolled her eyes at him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Jaune, we're friends," she smiled gently at him, "sure it was a little out of nowhere, but I see it as my duty to make **sure** you pick the **right** date." She stared him in the eyes, this time fully hoping he would notice her emphasis and take the hint. Of course, he was Jaune so the chances of him noticing anything remotely subtle were almost zero.

"Wow, thanks Rubes. Honestly I didn't expect you to take it that seriously, but I'm glad I have your help," he replied, "I'll just go get a drink and we can get started." The boy began to get up but was stopped by a hand on the shoulder from a plotting Ruby.

The red girl saw this as a perfect opportunity to make use of Weiss' advice. The heiress had mentioned something about how boys liked her for her money, she had said something about it making relationships difficult, but Ruby didn't see how having Jaune noticing her could be problematic and quickly decided on her course of action.

She offered to pay for Jaune's drink. He protested of course, being the gentleman he was, but eventually collapsed and gave in to the power of Ruby's pouting face. She had been saving her money for a new part she had been planning to add to Crescent Rose, but sacrifices have to be made in the name of love and she had to take advantage of anything she could if she wanted her friend to finally notice her as something more.

She came back to the table five minutes later with their drinks, coffee for Jaune and hot chocolate for herself, and sat down next to him.

"So... what **are** we doing?" Ruby asked, handing Jaune his drink. He thanked her before picking up his clipboard and placing it between them on the table.

"**I **wrote a list," he sipped his coffee, starting when it burned his tongue, "of all my dating options."

Ruby heard this and immediately her eyes darted to the list, as she read it her hope slowly flickered and faded away.

She wasn't on the list.

Her mind went into panic mode. Was she too annoying? Did he think of her like a sister? Maybe he didn't like her at all and he only stuck around because she was the only option!

No, she told herself. They were still friends. He didn't have to approach her back when they first arrived at Beacon and he didn't need to make an effort to stay friends with her after he got his own team. She shouldn't doubt him; they had taken down the White Fang together after all and she had trusted him with her life.

She just didn't know **why** she wasn't even an option. She knew she wouldn't be his first or even second choice; those had been Weiss and Pyrrha after all. But apparently she wasn't a choice at all.

Jaune, completely oblivious to the scythe wielder's inner turmoil, continued to speak.

"So, I kinda need your advice on this stuff. I mean, you're a girl so I figure you probably know more about, like, relationship stuff than I do. Like **all** my dating advice is from my dad and he's like, y'know all manly and confident and says I just need to be that too. So... yeah..." Jaune looked over to see Ruby seemingly talking to herself under her breath,"Uh... Ruby?"

The red girl looked up at the blonde and gave a weak smile, trying to hide the fact that she _kinda_ wanted to cry a little and decided to just go along with Jaune's idea in a desperate hope that **maybe** this would all turn out in her favour. She sighed melancholically,

"Sure Jaune, I can help," She looked over the list, "I don't know why you'd ask me for romantic advice though, I've never been in a relationship before."

"Uh, well... you're like the only girl I'm close with other than Pyrrha and I feel like asking an ex for dating advice would be a _little_ awkward..." he ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, "I didn't really have another option... sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Ruby Placed a hand on the boy's arm, "shall we get on with it then?" she raised an eyebrow. Jaune nodded and picked up the clipboard.

"Right, soooo first up on the list is Blake. Mysterious, sexy, badass-"

"Aaaaand taken, she's with Sun so unless you plan on fighting him for her..." Ruby looked at him inquisitively.

"No nonono, how about we move on tooooo," he looked down the list, "Yang! She's fun, cool and uhhh," he paused "...well endowed."

"Okay, two things: first, I didn't think you were that shallow and second, ew I **don't **need to know what you think about my sisters chest," she glared at him in a way that was probably supposed to be intimidating but in reality was about as scary as an irritated puppy. It didn't stop Jaune from panicking as he knew how scary she could **actually **be.

"Uh, n-no I mean, I said she was cool and fun too! The last one was just a-a bonus, uh, I mean I uh..." he trailed off realising he was only digging himself deeper and decided to just move on and forget it ever happened.

"So, uh... next is Weiss, she's-"

"Taken," Ruby interrupted again,"and has a habit of rejecting you. A lot."

"Right, right..." the blonde looked down at the next name, "Velvet?"

"Yatsuhashi." The caped girl countered

"Coco?"

"Fox."

"...Nor-"

"Ren."

"...Pyrrha?"

At this one Ruby just glared at him, Jaune gulped and looked down at his clipboard only to find that there were no more names after that.

"Uh, that's it." Jaune spoke dejectedly, here Ruby saw what might be her best chance to get Jaune's attention and decided to be a blunt as she possibly could without just grabbing and kissing him, although that was an appealing idea.

"You **are **missing someone on that list of potential dated to the dance you know," She stated while looking him straight in the eye, "someone who also doesn't have a date to the dance. Someone who is also in this shop. At this table. Right now."

"...wait...Ruby?" Jaune questioned, "You would go to the dance with me? Really?" Ruby felt her heart swell, he had finally gotten it!

"Of course!" she said excitedly.

"Wow! Thanks Rubes, you really are a great friend!" Jaune stood up. The red girl was confused and tried to interrupt,

"Wait, actually I was thinking like an actual dat-"she tried to say, but Jaune couldn't hear her over his own rambling.

"-have to go get my suit cleaned, even if I am just going with a friend I don't wanna make you look bad, heh. Thanks for the help Ruby, I'll see you at the dance on Sunday 'kay?" he said this while running out of the store, giving the girl no chance to correct him. The swelling of her heart stopped and deflated and she could swear she felt it shatter.

"Friend..." she sighed and banged her head on the table in frustration, "ow..." She rubbed her head and moaned in pain.

"Well," she mumbled to herself, "at least I can pretend for one night, I mean I did want to go to the dance with him... it's better than nothing...right?"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: All these reviews, favourites and follows are really great! Thanks Readers! Also, sorry if the tone got a little depressing this chapter at some points, I was listening to "All Our Days" in the background while writing and it messed with my mood a bit.**

Ruby arrived back at the dorms to find it occupied only by Weiss, she entered and closed the door behind her and walked over to sit next to the reading heiress on the lower bunk of their bed. The white haired girl looked up, eyebrow rising when she saw the red girl, and put her book down before turning to her seemingly troubled partner.

"I take it didn't go well?" Weiss asked.

"Well..." Ruby paused thinking how she would word this, "I'm going to the dance with Jaune," she replied with obviously faked enthusiasm. The heiress was confused by her partners seeming dissatisfaction with the situation and proceeded to ask about it.

"Then **why** are you moping? You got what you wanted! That's a good thing!" she exclaimed, this caused the red girl's fake smile to slide off and be replaced by an expression of utter defeat.

"He's taking me as a friend," she looked Weiss in the eyes, "**and** he's only doing it because literally everyone else is either taken or Yang." She pouted. The white haired girl groaned loudly and put her head in her hands.

"**Why** did you have to crush on **Jaune?! **Why not someone less oblivious like Scarlet or Sage? Heck even Cardin!" The heiress yelled irritated before realising what she had just suggested,"Actually, no that's too far." She sighed,"Just... why **Jaune** of all people?" Ruby hung her head.

"I dunno... he's always been nice y'know? He was my first friend in Beacon and then after all the White Fang stuff..." The red girl bit her lip like she didn't want to say what she was thinking, "You guys were my only friends, but I wasn't yours. You three had other people, boyfriends, Team CFVY..."

"What are you talking about? They're your friends too." Weiss tilted her head in confusion. Her partner shook her head negatively.

"No they aren't, I haven't said a single thing to any of them directly and I don't hang out with them. I don't blame you for having other friends or anything! "The red girl exclaimed, panicked about possibly offending her friend,"But, I wasn't really part of it. It was a little lonely to be honest..."

"Ruby-"the heiress tried to assure her friend that she was welcome but was interrupted.

"M'not finished." the red girl interrupted.

"Fine," her partner replied,"but we're having a team discussion about this later," The white haired girl said firmly before gesturing for the red girl to continue.

"Uh, right. Well then I was kinda hanging around on my own in the courtyard and Jaune showed up," a smile grew on her face, "we had never really gotten much chance to hang out after we got our own teams and then all the White Fang stuff happened, but it turned out we had tons of stuff in common!" She was grinning by this point.

"Really?" Weiss asked, "You mean **other** than both being awkward team leaders?" Ruby nodded emphatically.

"Yeah! We both like the same card games, the same comic books, did you know he has a limited first edition of X-Ray and Vav! And-"She continued rambling while the other girl rolled her eyes and decided to interrupt.

"I get it, you're both equally dorky-"

"Hey!"

"-so can we get back to the interesting part?" the heiress smirked as the younger girl pouted before getting back to her story.

"Fine. It's not really that interesting though," she shrugged, " we started hanging out a lot, Pyrrha would hang out with us occasionally but I think she felt kinda lost with most of the conversations me and Jaune had and she showed up less and less. Eventually Pyrrha came along one day, which was weird 'cause by that point she **never** showed up, and she took Jaune off somewhere quiet. He came back about ten minutes later looking pretty sad, he told me that they had just broken up." Ruby shrugged. Weiss raised her eyebrow.

"While that **is** interesting, it doesn't explain how you ended up crushing on him." She said, genuinely interested.

"Well, y'know he was right there and I just remember wondering why anyone would break up with him, so I started looking at him like a boy rather than my friend." The red girl blushed slightly, "I, uh, thought he was very attractive, I guess I hadn't really noticed before, and then I was thinking about him like _that_ and then it was really embarrassing 'cause I remembered it was Jaune and I wasn't supposed to think about him like that but I couldn't get it out of my head. It was embarrassing." She calmed down at the end after rushing through the sentence. Weiss smirked.

"'Like _that?_' What do you mean Ruby, how were you thinking about your _good friend_ Jaune?" Weiss said teasingly causing the younger girl to stutter and mumble something into her hands. The heiress laughed.

"Stop teasing me." Ruby pouted. The other girl laughed again before calming down and placing a hand on her partners shoulder.

"Look Ruby, I get that this is new to you and it might be scary but you're probably going to have to just tell Jaune directly," the heiress suggested causing her partner to panic, she squeezed the younger girl's shoulder, "wait and listen. Jaune is just out of a relationship with a friend that made their friendship rather awkward, trust me I've seen them avoiding each other at breakfast," she said pointedly when the younger girl looked confused, "maybe Jaune isn't putting you on his list **because** you're hinting that you like him, you need to do something he can't pretend is friendly if you want this issue to be addressed. Weiss looked at Ruby as the girl bit her lip worriedly, after a minute though she nodded to herself and looked right back at her partner.

"Okay, at the dance I'm going to make sure he knows **exactly** how I feel about him. Thanks Weiss." The girl hugged her friend.

"Don't thank me yet you dolt, we still have important things to do." The heiress pushed the younger girl off and stood.

"Like what?" the red girl said confusedly.

"Like getting you a dress," her partner looked wide eyed, "consider it payment for my wonderful advice, I'll not have you declaring your love in last year's clothes." The white haired girl smiled triumphantly as the younger girl surrendered to her demands and grabbed the red girl's hand before dragging her off towards the airships.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry for this being a little more delayed than usual, the finale will probably be posted after this with a much shorter delay to compensate.**

Ruby admired herself in the mirror of the dorm's bathroom, she had to admit to herself that while playing dress up doll for Weiss wasn't exactly fun, it did have its benefits. Mostly the fact that the heiress had more 'traditional' fashion sense than her; apparently gothic corsets were not exactly modern dance wear.

Weiss' money had helped too, she had protested massively about her partner paying right up until she realised that a dress would cost the entire rest of her savings which would have taken her months to save back up, mostly because she was terrible at saving money due to the temptations of cookies draining most of her funds. Thus she had insisted that she owed the heiress a favour to which she had gotten the reply that finally admitting her feelings and ceasing to 'mope around like a dolt' would be repayment enough.

The dress was short, Weiss had insisted she show off her legs, though the skirt still remained flowing rather than tight, after all it was a formal dance and she didn't want to wear something that looked like one of Yang's club outfits.

The colour scheme was the obvious black and red, though unlike last year's dress the majority of this was black with red accents, crimson skirted the edges in flowery patterns like vines while the majority of the fabric was pure black. All in all the dress was much like that of the previous year though with an inverted colour scheme and a few slightly ornate touches.

Ruby thought it suited her and Weiss had agreed, though that may have been partially due to the rather violent rejection of many of the previous garments, thankfully the nurse had said that the results of the 'incident' wouldn't cause any scarring so the heiress had eventually forgiven the younger girl.

She walked out of the bathroom and into the main room o the dorm where the others stood waiting, all in their respective colours. As she entered she was immediately intercepted by her partner who grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her over to the bed before forcefully sitting her down on the lower bunk.

"Sit down, we haven't much time and we need to do something with your hair." Seeing the panicked look on the red girl's face she rolled her eyes, "Come on, I'm only going clip it back but it needs to be brushed first and I need to talk to you anyway so sit," she said, glaring at the girl until she acquiesced.

She picked up the brush from the bed and slid herself behind her partner before beginning to thoroughly brush the knots out of the girl's wolfish hair.

"Soooooo..." Ruby spoke up, "you needed to talk to me?"

"Hmm," Weiss hummed affirmatively, "I wanted to know if you had a plan for how you're going to do this, you have had a few weeks to think about it after all." The red girl giggled nervously.

"Well, not so much an actual _plan, I_ just kinda thought I'd wait until near the end of the dance and just tell him y'know, make it as clear as possible." She waited anxiously for the heiress' yelling about how terrible her plan was, surprisingly it never came.

"I suppose that could work, though why are you waiting until the end?" the white haired girl spoke curiously, Ruby snapped out of her shock at the lack of yelling and spoke cautiously.

"I just wanna be able to enjoy the dance, don't wanna make things awkward for the rest of the night if something goes wrong y'know?" she quietly asked the a question that was bothering her, "You're not mad about my bad planning?"

"I can't guide you through every step of this Ruby, If you need me to plan out your entire relationship then it's probably not a relationship tat's going to work out." She smirked behind her partner and picked up a small red rose ornamented clip and tucked back the girl's fringe before clipping it into place, picking up a mirror she held it out in front of the younger girl, "What do you think?

"Ooh it cute!" the younger girl squealed causing Weiss to roll her eyes and give a quiet, good natured laugh at her partner.

"You two done over there?" Yang's voice came from across the room, receiving a positive nod from both girls, the blonde grabbed Blake and the four of them set off towards the main hall where the dance would be taking place, falling into more casual, light hearted banter as they walked.

The dance had already started when team RWBY got there and as such it took them a while to find their respective dates amongst the crowd, Blake had disappeared without a word when she had noticed Sun on the dance floor and Yang headed off in the same direction, this left Weiss and Ruby.

The older girl noticed blue hair in near the side of the room and quickly sped over, though not without first wishing her partner a quick 'good luck'. Thus Ruby was left alone, standing awkwardly amongst the crowd like a lost puppy and attempting to stand on the toes to see over the heads of the many other attendees. It was when she began hopping that it seemed life took pity on her and she was interrupted.

"Uhh, Ruby?" The red girl spun around to see that Jaune had apparently found her rather than the other way around, she quickly tried and failed to compose herself after having her crush see her jumping around like an idiot.

"Oh, Hi Jaune! Looks like you found me, heh, we really should have picked meeting spots or something shouldn't we?" She laughed nervously, a gesture that was returned in kind by her date.

"Yeah, probably would have made things easier. But hey, at least we found each other right," the blonde boy took her hand and smiled at her in that awkwardly charming way he did most things, "soooo... you wanna dance?" Ruby nodded, glad that Weiss had allowed her to wear pumps with this dress rather than have to endure a whole 'nother night of those evil lady stilts.

The music was light as Jaune led her into a basic dance that mostly consisted of swaying and moving in a circle, it wasn't as overpowering as the clubs her sister occasionally dragged her to and as such the murmur of conversation was a constant sound. This of course served only to make the silence she and the blonde were sharing to feel rather awkward; clearly he had been feeling the same thing since he tried to begin a conversation.

"So, anything new with you? Discover anymore criminal conspiracies? Fight any robots?" he spoke with a teasing smile on his face and a raised eyebrow, she felt a little calmer with the banter, it reminded her that no matter what the outcome of tonight was, their friendship was there and she would have to work pretty hard to ruin it.

"Nah, I guess I've been doing the same as everyone else y'know? Dealing with all the emotion-y stuff and relationship drama before we end up getting wrapped up in something **else **crazy." She shrugged as if to say 'because you know we will'.

"Ha! I hear you, it's nice to be normal for once after all that, well, as normal as people like us can be considering all the crazy hunter stuff we do. I'm pretty sure I've built up more muscle in the last year than in the entire rest of my life." Jaune laughed, spinning Ruby before pulling her back in to him.

"You can definitely tell," The girl blurted out disoriented from the twirl before realising what she had said and beginning to stammer and blush a little, "U-uh, I mean-"

"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much," he rolled his eyes, seemingly much more relaxed than usual, perhaps due to being in an environment he thrived in and doing something he was confident in his ability to do, "You look good too by the way, nice hair clip, though it does make me wonder if you have anything **not** rose themed."

"I have plenty of non rose stuff!" the younger yelled indignantly.

"Like?" the boy raised an eyebrow.

"Like- Like... shut up." The red girl pouted before hearing a laugh from her dance partner, she looked up to see him smiling and looking right into her eyes, so she smiled too and joined in on this private little joke that nobody else around them was a part of. Again that feeling popped up, she felt peaceful, enjoying this moment with her friend, possibly best friend. She let that feeling wash over her, and any doubts she had about her end of night plans were washed away on their laughter, she felt secure that no matter the outcome they would be fine, they wouldn't distance themselves from each other like Jaune and Pyrrha had done because she wouldn't let them and she was ready to accept whatever came.

She **really **would prefer that he accept though.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Grand Finale time, Thanks for all the support given throughout this story, I hope you stick around for future stories and possible sequels to this one.**

The night had passed in a blur of laughter, stumbling and being led around in various dances that Jaune seemed to perform with the same ease as breathing. Now, as the hall began to empty and the night began to close, she knew it was time to take her chance before it was too late and the fears that plagued her in the weeks before returned. She steeled herself once more with the memories she had created during the evening and spoke.

"Hey Jaune, is there somewhere we can talk, like, in private?" she asked the boy, looking up at him from where she stood nestled close to him from a slow dance. She had thought he would be more awkward about slow dancing with her, but something about dancing seemed to have given him a major confidence boost, so when asked if he was okay with it he had only pulled her close and continued, causing her inner romantic to squeal before being locked up to be saved until this moment.

"Sure, Rubes," he took her by the hand and led her up the stairs to an empty balcony, both of them looked out at the stars and basked in the tranquillity of the night for a minute before the blonde broke the silence by asking, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

The realisation that this moment was **actually** happening sent her into a very brief state of panic before she quickly went over the advice she had been given over the time leading up to the dance. She needed to be direct, not give him any other way to interpret the question, with a sigh she loaded her question and fired.

"Jaune, why wasn't I on your list of potential romantic partners?" she asked with a straight face, she looked him directly in the eye and watched as his confident state faltered, realising this may seem a little too like an interrogation she calmed the rather aggressive stance she had taken up and turned her hard expression into a calmer, yet still curious one.

"Uh, I guess I don't really know, I mean you were advising me so I guess I just figured it would be kind of awkward to put you on there. Why do you ask?" he replied, tilting his head inquisitively. Once again Ruby steeled herself and voiced her thoughts in the most direct way she could.

"Jaune I'm in love with you, romantically, or at least very interested in you, and I want us to be a couple, as in the hugging and kissing and possibly other things but those probably wouldn't come into play for quite a while kind of couple." With that said, the girl breathed out months worth of frustration and anxiety, she had said it, and with that she let the calm feeling from earlier fill her one more time as she waited for the response.

Jaune, for his part, was staring at the girl in a strange mix of fear and shock. She wished she could help him, but she had said her part, the ball was in his court now.

"Uh, wow, I mean I suspected a little, especially with that whole speech in the courtyard thing, but I thought I was just crazy, like, why would Ruby like **me?** But... I don't know what to say Rubes; you're like my best friend, especially after Pyrrha, and what if that happens to us too! I-I- ugh, this is so confusing!" The blonde rambled, every thought that came to his head spilled from his mouth as he tried to comprehend what the girl he considered his best friend had just said to him.

Ruby on the other hand was listening to every word of his rambling, despite her own constant reassurances that everything would be fine the sheer emotion of the situation mixed with the hope and despair she was getting from the boy's words made her veil of calm collapse. She felt tears in her eyes and forced them back, desperately hoping the blonde wouldn't notice, despite how much she wanted this to work out she didn't want to emotionally blackmail him into a pity relationship because she couldn't control herself.

Of course Jaune did notice, and he panicked as she had expected. Before he could say anything however, she decided to speak up and prevent him from doing just that and agreeing out of pity. She shook her head violently.

"M'fine, I'll be fine, sorry, I'm being stupid, emotions 'n stuff." She gave a watery smile and he nodded, turning around and composing himself. The time moved slowly for both of them, their thoughts both running fast and swirling within an assault of varied emotions. Ruby had managed to control hers only slightly, despite the lack of tears the sadness was obvious in her eyes though was occasionally fought back by her inner hope and optimism that she would come out of this better off than before no matter the outcome.

Jaune on the other hand was having much more trouble containing himself, not having had the same emotional prep time that Ruby had, thus he just began saying what was on his mind,

"I don't get this at all, I never thought you liked me like that but it doesn't seem bad, it's not bad right? But it could be, like with Pyrrha, neither of us did anything wrong but it just didn't work out anyway, even though we cared about each other it just ended, now everything's awkward and I don't have enough friends to just lose them like that y'know? I don't even know **how** I feel about you, I never thought about our relationship because it just **was** and now I have to think about it and it's all just so confusing!" He put his head in his hands and sighed, the pressure of the thoughts lifting off him as if he had been carrying an anvil that turned into a feather. He looked up at the girl before him; her face looked panicked as she attempted to process the boy's response.

"Uh, Jaune, was there an answer in there? If there was, could you translate it from ramble because I have no idea what that was." Ruby stated as she ran a hand through her hair, this caused Jaune to laugh in relief, he had almost forgotten **who** he was talking to in the midst of all this panic, this was Ruby, not Pyrrha or Weiss or any other crush he had developed. This was his friend, one who happened to have a crush on him and who was just as confused in this situation as he was. He needed to make this as simple for both of them as possible, because neither of them was good at this.

"My answer is that I care about you Ruby, and that's what's important right? You're my best friend," the girl began to frown at this seeming rejection but immediately perked up at his next words,"which is why I think we could try this."

"You would!?" Ruby exclaimed, looking at the boy with hopeful eyes.

"Sure, I mean how much would really change?" Jaune shrugged causing Ruby to open her mouth and immediately shut it again before mumbling out an answer.

"Well, we'd like kiss and stuff..." She seemed confused at how little their relationship would change if she thought about it.

"I get to kiss a cute girl **and **hang out with my best friend?" He took her hand, "This seems like a better deal by the minute." Ruby blushed heavily at his words and touch.

"When'd you get all charming?" she teased causing Jaune to mock scoff.

"Please, I've always been this charming, why else would you end up crushing on me?" He grinned at her as she giggled.

"Probably more for your comedic skills than charm, though if that was your idea of a joke I think my taste has increased in the last ten seconds." The two of them joined in laughter that eventually trailed off into a comfortable silence, their emotions had calmed and there was an atmosphere of gentle comfort that enveloped them both as they stood in each other's company. Eventually the silence was broken by Ruby.

"Soooo..." she looked Jaune in the eyes; "since we've been doing the 'hanging out with best friend part' all night, do you think we could...?" she looked at her feet and kicked the ground nervously.

"What? You want to kiss a cute girl?" He smirked, Ruby just looked up at him again, eyes filled with confidence.

"No, I want to kiss you, though you are pretty cute and you **do** scream like a girl, so I guess if you're going off technicalities..." she smiled devilishly and brought herself closer to the tall boy and stood on her tiptoes, "you can tell everyone that you were there when I kissed the cutest, girliest person in the school."

She brought her lips up to his and her mind exploded in fireworks, not because the kiss was so great or because she was madly in love with him, no, those would come later.

For now she was just filled with so much happiness, she revelled in the fact that despite all the trials and errors she had gone through, she had made it, she was here.

She had finally caught him.


End file.
